Jacketed bullet



Dec. 1, 1942. E. FLEISCHMANN 2,303,449

JACKETED BULLET Filed Nov. 21, 1939 Fig.4.

v/ 7 fig/fig? P'atented Dec. 1, 1942 JACKETED BULLET Ernst Fleischmann,Clairton,

Copperweld Steel Company,

Pa., assignor to Glassport, Pa., a

corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 21, 1939, Serial No.305,495

3 Claims.

This invention relates generally to projectiles nd particularly to ajacketed bullet such as a .fle bullet or the like.

It has been recognized heretofore that the pr0- ision of a jacket ofrelatively soft material on bullet of relatively hard material such assteel 1" the like. reduces ricocheting and increases penmating power.Copper-jacketed steel bullets, for sample, have been used and show adeeper pen- ;ration than a steel-jacketed lead bullet. Diffiilty hasbeen experienced, however, in mainiining the copper jacket preciselyconcentric ith the body portion of the bullet, when rolling copper cladbillet down to rod. s tock suitabla ar the manufacture of bullets:Be'dcgsec'ifit e ifi'erence between the specific'gravit'efs' of 4 ndsteel, any lack of concentricityf-"bf ith respect to the bodyrendetintheb nbalanced, i. e., the center H 'ansverse section does notno 'ith the geometrical centen of the section. Such nbalance causes thebullet to deviate from a :raight line when firing'and thus reduces theccuracy of fire considerably.

I have invented a novel jacketed bullet which vercomes theaforementioned objection. In a referred embodiment the bullet of myinvention Jmprises a core or body portion of suitable ma- :rial, e. g.,steel, and a jacket of relatively softer material. 1g a specific gravitysubstantially the same as wt of the material of which the body portion rcore of the bullet is composed. Thus any vol; of concentricity betweenthe body or core nd the jacket will not render the bullet unbalneed. Thecenter of gravity of any transverse action will coincide precisely withthe geometric enter thereof.

The accompanying drawing illustrates a prearred embodiment of theinvention. In the rawing,

Fig. 1 is aside elevation of a jacketed bullet ccording to theinvention;

Fig. 2 is a transverse section thereof taken long the plane of line H-IIof Fig. 1;

Fig. flis a longitudinal section therethrough then along the plane ofline III--III of Fig. 1; nd

Fig. 4 is a viewsimilar to Fig.3 showing a modication.

Reierring in detail to the drawing, a. jacketed .lllet indicatedgenerally at Ill comprises a body core II and a sheath or jacket l2. Asshown I the drawing, the sheath is not concentric with re core or,stated dinerently, the thickness 0! The jacket is composed of metal hav-9 the sheath is not uniform at all points around the circumference ofthe bullet. This is a condition frequently encountered in manufacturingcomposite bar stock such as that from which the bullet l0 may best bemade. The sheath is bonded to the core by any suitable method so thatthe bullet as a whole is a unitary object. The core H is preferably ofsteel.

The metal of which the jacket I2 is composed may be of any suitablecomposition so long as it has a specific gravity substantially the sameas that of steel, i. e., approximately 7.88. One metal which is suitablefor the purpose is an alloy of-icopper, aluminum and iron comprisingabout 90% copper, 8.5% aluminum, and 1.5% iron. This alloy has aspecific gravity of 7.79 which is sufliciently close to that of steel topreelude any. unbalance resulting from slight nonuniformities thethickness of the jacket at wil'ufls pc ints 'around the body or core.

If "fi re ody of the bullet is composed of metal other tin steel, themetal of which the jacket is co pibsed will be chosen so that itsspecific ravity conforms as closely as may be to that of the metal ofwhich the body is composed.

Bullets made in accordance with the invention may be of any desiredshape or size for various applications and may be manufactured by thesame methods and apparatus as used heretofore for making jacketedbullets.

The bullets may, for example. be turned down from bar stock as shown inFigure 3 or swedged down, either hot orcold, as shown at I 0' in Figure4. In the former case, the jacket is removed adjacent the nose of thebullet by the turning Operation. In the latter case, the jacket ismerely thinned slightly adjacent the nose.

Bullets made in acoordancaw lth the invention are characterized by thedesirable qualities of bullets known heretofore having a jacket of a,metal relatively softer than the body. such as reduction in ricochetingand increased penetrating power. They also have the further advantageabove pointed out, via, the higher firing accuracy made possible byelimination of the unbalance resulting from slight non-uniformity in thethickness of the jacket or lack of concentricity between the jacket andbody. The invention thus makes it unnecessar to guarantee an absolutely'uniform thickness of 0031111183111 order to preclude the unbalancedcondition thereby facilitating the manufacture of bullets and reducingthe cost thereof. 7

Although I have disclosed herein but a pre- 55 ferred embodiment of theinvention, it will be understood that slight departures from the generalprinciple thereof may be made within the scope or the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A jacketed bullet comprising a steel body and a jacket composed of analloy comprising about 90% copper, 8.5% aluminum and 15% iron.

2. A bullet having a core or body 0! steel and a jacket thereon composedof an alloy which is predominantly of copper-and has substantiaiiy thesame density as steeL,

3. A bullet having a metal core or body am Jacket thereon composed 01.an alloy predomi- 5 nantiy of copper and having substantiaiiy th samedensity as the metal of which the core c:

body is composed.

. ERNST FLEISOHMANN.

